Born to a farming and ranching family in southwest Saskatchewan, Canada, Bryce Lewis was raised on his grandma’s accordion playing, Swift Current Old Time Fiddling, Will James books, and Ian Tyson Records.
By the age of two, he was strumming along to Marty Stuart’s Hillbilly Rock album on his first guitar (a sheet of plywood cut in the shape of a guitar and strung with fishing line that his dad had made him). By age 11, he joined the Kyle Lutheran Church String Band as rhythm guitarist, where local guitarist Glenn Boyer introduced him to the “boom-chick” patterns of Luther Perkins. Through his teens he learned how to play by ear from his Uncle Pat. He was also introduced to traditional fiddle tunes, Jerry Reed, and Chet Atkins by Freddie Pelletier (Ian Tyson, Prairie Fire) and Clint Pelletier (Barrage, Pelletier Gervais, Brett Kissel).
Moving to Calgary, Alberta, Bryce drove a truck delivering windows to construction sites, studied under Dave Hamilton (The Tommy Hunter Show, Ian Tyson) and applied what he’d learned to any band that would let him sit in (this included the Saturday afternoon jam at Ranchman’s, Pat Case’s jams in Turner Valley and Black Diamond, and a gig playing bass at the Cecil Hotel before it closed).
Making his way back to Saskatchewan Bryce worked as a ranch hand and mechanic while playing in cabaret bands on the weekends (this included Glenna Switzer’s band Blackwater featuring Clayton Linthicum of Kacy and Clayton and The Deep Dark Woods) before joining Blake Berglund as one of the founding members of Blake Berglund and the Vultures. Bryce toured coast to coast in Canada with Blake, joined Belle Plaine’s band, and toured through the United States playing guitar for Blake and Belle, as well as driving the van and fixing the gear as needed.
Bryce has been lucky enough to get to sit in for a song or two with Colter Wall and Tyler Childers, as well as get a few lessons from his guitar hero Redd Volkaert.
As of right now, if Bryce isn’t picking guitar somewhere, he’s fishing with his wife, playing with his son and his dog, or he’s working some shutdown, applying 20,000 volts of electricity to some cables or bus-work to see whether or not it will blow up.
